/ck/ - Food & Cooking

[Anonymous No.9964960]

New tea thread: guess how many fucks I give edition

[Anonymous No.9964983]

>>9964960

kys faggot

[Anonymous No.9964985]

>>9964960
tea is for faggots

[BloomingTeaGuy No.9964990]

Still looking for blooming tea

>>9964983
>>9964985
same fag

[Anonymous No.9964992]

I guess about 5?

[Anonymous No.9965005]

tea is gross when you think about it

it's literally just dried up old leaf water

[Anonymous No.9965007]

>>9964992
Are those imperial fucks or metric fucks? If the number is really high go ahead and use the kelvin scale.

[Anonymous No.9965018]

>>9965005
>it's literally just dried up old leaf water
>it's literally just burn up old coffee beans
>it's literally just fermented sauerkraut
>it's literally just spoiled milk
>it's literally just dried up peppers and beans

[Anonymous No.9965019]

>>9964990
Blooming tea is the best.

[Anonymous No.9965022]

>drinking tea?
>yep.
>... good thread.
>yep.
>*sip*
>...
>what kinda tea you drinking?
>lapsang.
>you using uh... boiled water for that?
>...yep.
>sugar?
>yep.
>cool. You still drinking it?
>nope.
>*nods* alright well see ya, man.
>yep.

[Anonymous No.9965038]

>>9964990
There's a shop where I'm at that has a couple blooming teas. They're pretty good. They have a really wide selection of loose leaf as well. All really good stuff.

[Anonymous No.9965042]

>>9965018
>it's literally just fermented cabbage
sauerkraut is the end product

[Anonymous No.9965059]

>>9965022
If you need sugar in your tea, it's shit tea.

[Anonymous No.9965060]

>>9965042
Sorry, a typo of sorts. Long day.

There's nothing wrong with bacterial-fermented, raw vegetable product. Quite a bit of effort can go into the massive varieties of true tea without even including the drinks containing extracts of grasses or chemically ripened.

[BloomingTeaGuy No.9965064]

>>9965038
Where are you? Can you recommend an online shop?

>>9965019
So eventful, I love it. The glass pot is the best touch ever. Feels like something you would serve a person to let them know you took care of an issue for them.

[Anonymous No.9965067]

How do you people keep your tea hot? I like to keep it there to sip on for a long time but after a while it's just cold.

[Anonymous No.9965068]

>>9965059
yep.

[Anonymous No.9965077]

>>9964990

fucking retard owo

[Anonymous No.9965078]

>>9965064
Sorry man. I try to buy all of my stuff local. I've heard good things about art of tea. But I'm not sure how their selection is. And yeah I really like clear glass teaware. It's so nice to look at and the flowering tea let's you make at like 4 pots of tea. It's great. I hope you find some for yourself.

[Anonymous No.9965088]

>>9965067
My pot does a pretty good job of keeping tea hot. How long are we talking here?

[BloomingTeaGuy No.9965096]

>>9965078
Dang, okay. I'll have to look for some local stuff

[Anonymous No.9965101]

>>9965067
channel your ki into your cup

[Anonymous No.9965110]

>>9965096
Buying local is pretty fun. The people who run the shops in around me are really nice and they all get new and different blends in stock all the time.

[Anonymous No.9965112]

>>9965067
Lots of small infusions.

[Anonymous No.9965128]

>>9965067
>How do you people keep your tea hot?
I used to own an enameled iron kettle, by the time the water was hot enough that pot was also blazing and would retain heat.

I currently only own an iron tea-cup, but it too can remain extremely hot.

[Anonymous No.9965136]

>>9965128
Why'd you stop using the iron kettle?
Did you like it when you used it?

[Anonymous No.9965152]

>>9965136
I loved it, but moving between states I stayed with my family for a little and lost a fuck-ton of my possessions.

I hate to insult my family, but they're kind of trashy even when they have money to burn. They'll destroy anything you get near them without thought of consequence.

[Anonymous No.9965195]

>>9965152
Aw man, that's a shame..
Do you remember what brand it was or where it was from?
Or was it just one of those generic enameled cast iron pots like they sell on Amazon?

[Anonymous No.9965234]

>>9965195
It was a tetsubin, more of a kettle, black, and very similar to the one from 'the republic of tea'. Aside from the handle getting hot as hell (use a towel), I saw no downsides after years of use.

It was kind of generic around below 50 USD, but functioned perfectly for tea, and other water-heating purposes when a microwave or electric kettle wasn't around.

[Anonymous No.9965321]

>>9965234
Looks neat. I never use a kettle. I just pour water from a pot into the teapot.

[Anonymous No.9965762]

Can anyone recommend a smoky tea? I’ve tried a smoky earl grey from NMteaco that was good and would like to try more and send some as gifts.

[Anonymous No.9966109]

>>9965762
I've never heard of smokey tea. Sounds interesting.

[Anonymous No.9966166]

how to make a good tea? boil water, milk, dump leafs in it, sugar?

[BloomingTeaGuy No.9966186]

>>9965762
Pu-erh seems to be a smoky dark tea, never tried though

[Anonymous No.9966207]

>>9966166
Well depending on the tea you want different amounts of tea per cup of water and different temperatures. There are also some teas which you wouldn't want to put milk or sugar into. Or if you don't give a shit you can just boil water, buy bags of tea and do whatever with it.

[Anonymous No.9966214]

>>9965059
I disagree, I think adding milk and sugar to some black teas can bring out more flavors. I love a good Irish Breakfast with milk in the morning.
>>9965067
When I'm out and about I use a normal insulated thermos, which keeps my tea hot for hours. It also holds 32oz which is nice considering it stays warm all day.

[Anonymous No.9966272]

I have that same keyboard, great for browsing on my desktop pc while in bed.

also jasmine tea best tea

[BloomingTeaGuy No.9966333]

>>9966272
jasmine =/= tea

[Anonymous No.9966345]

>>9966333
It is good though.

[Anonymous No.9966352]

>>9965059
I see where you're coming from but I'll have to disagree. I think black tea with a hint a sugar enhances the flavor by a lot.

[BloomingTeaGuy No.9966369]

>>9966345
oof, it may be, I haven't tried it

[Anonymous No.9966375]

>>9966352
Nah man, honey. Raw honey.
Stuff's good for you too.

[Anonymous No.9966433]

>>9966166
lapsang

[Anonymous No.9966448]

>>9966109
The base tea is called Lapsang Souchong. It’s a smoky black tea. I’ve only tried it as an Earl Grey and it tasted like a campfire with citronella, in a good way. Most people that asked to try it liked it, except some women. I would like to try more, flavored or unflavored, from other companies but there’s so many to choose from.

>>9966186
Thanks, haven’t tried any pu-erh teas yet. That’s next on my list to get into. I’ve heard a lot of great things about it.

[BloomingTeaGuy No.9966456]

>>9966448
When I find the fated blooming tea site I'm gonna get some, make sure to let me know how it goes

[Anonymous No.9966484]

hi fellow tea girls itt, gonna have some green tea with lemon and honey tomorrow for breakfast

[Anonymous No.9966513]

post the pastebins anyone? dont have them :^(

[Anonymous No.9966526]

>>9966375
Honey is good as well. Depends on how I'm feeling whether I use it or sugar.

[BloomingTeaGuy No.9966537]

>>9966513
this

[Anonymous No.9966901]

What's everybody drinking tonight? Just had some of Yunnan Sourcing's white tea, it's not as good as I hoped but I don't know what I was expecting when I ordered white tea from a puerh specialist. Great for the price though.

[Anonymous No.9966910]

>>9966901
Forgot to even say what it was. It was their 2017 pekoe silver needles.

[Anonymous No.9966989]

>>9966901
>What's everybody drinking tonight?
Whiskey.
But I'll have some terrible instant tea later because sometimes I like the flavor; especially with whiskey.

Or I'll brew some 2010 green peurh. Googling why the hell this one is called American Hao other than trying to market local and overseas is beyond me.

[Anonymous No.9967083]

>>9966333
Jasmine tea is tea with jasmine in it. It is not a straight tisane like peppermint.

[Anonymous No.9967103]

>>9966333
>>9967083
Jasmine tea is usually shoddy stuff when it comes to the tea leaves, but high quality jasmine pearls are fantastic.

[BloomingTeaGuy No.9967114]

>>9966901
Drinking some earl grey.

>>9967103
>>9967083
YES Jasmine Pearls are actually good but jasmine w/ tea is a shit

[Anonymous No.9967132]

I want to start getting into tea, is there a beginner's guide pastebin somewhere?

[Anonymous No.9967156]

>>9965762
The first thing that comes to my mind hearing smokey tea is lapsang souchong, but I've also gotten kyobancha from ippodo a couple times. It was like drinking a cigar.

>>9966186
I'd be cautious looking for puerh if you want a smokey tea. Whenever I've had puerh that were smokey it was usually an aftertaste or something subtle. Not to mention that most puerh won't really be smokey at all.

>>9966989
you've inspired me to try some white tea and gin as soon as I wake up tomorrow.

[tsuki No.9967160]

>>9967132
I don't have the pastebin but feel free to ask me anything. I'll use a name for convenience

[Anonymous No.9967170]

>>9967160
How do I move from microwaving a mug with a teabag in it and adding sugar to not being a pleb? What should my first step be

[Anonymous No.9967186]

>>9967170
Buy good loose leaf tea.

[tsuki No.9967206]

>>9967170
Try out looseleaf tea as the anon above recommended. Teabags are filled with the leftover sediment from processed looseleaf. Also, cooking your tea would make it taste quite nasty.
Enjoying tea is all about the magic of the leaf itself, which is why quality tea doesn't need sugar.

As for teaware, you don't need a whole fancy gongfu set to actually brew good tea. In fact, a lot of Chinese people just throw some leaves in a cup and pour water over it. However, if you are looking to buy some teaware then either get a good teapot or a gaiwan if you want to brew Chinese style.

[Anonymous No.9967220]

>>9967206
so I should heat the water and then pour it in with loose leaves already in? I can't believe this is a real life question I am asking.

Also any recommendations for beginner teas?

[tsuki No.9967264]

>>9967220
Yeah, exactly. Some teas will want lower temperatures than others but just as a beginner guideline don't use fully boiling water unless you're drinking pu-erh.

[tsuki No.9967270]

>>9967220
As for beginner teas, I recommend Dragonwell green tea, a good Chinese black such as Laoshan or Golden Buds, Silver Needles white tea, and maybe a Wuyi oolong such as Shui Xian.

[Anonymous No.9967272]

>>9967156
>It was like drinking a cigar
That’s a good way to describe it. I’ll make an order for kyobancha in the next few weeks.

>>9967170
I started last year with an electric tea kettle and a big purchase of only samples from Harney and Sons, then branched out from there. It was a good way to try a variety and their teas are affordable.

[Anonymous No.9967275]

>>9967270
>>9967272
>>9967264
Ah, lastly, any tips on buying teastuff?

[tsuki No.9967278]

>>9967272
If you want to taste something with a lot of wet wood, tobacco, and smoke then try Yunnan Sourcing's 2003 Bulang brick puerh.

[tsuki No.9967285]

>>9967275
For looseleaf tea, I like Teavivre as they generally have great variety and quality. Yunnan Sourcing is my go-to for puerh and Chinese black teas. What-cha is also good but a bit more expensive for the quality. You can also get teaware from the first two.

[tsuki No.9967291]

>>9967275
Kill me for triple posting but make sure to get sample sizes for teas you haven't tried yet. It's a much better investment than buying 50-100g of a tea you didn't enjoy much.

[Anonymous No.9967343]

>>9967278
Added to my list, thanks

[Anonymous No.9967417]

>>9967291
This. Most places have sample sizes or sample packs, and while you're learning what you like, it's best to not commit too much to any one thing. I recommend Upton Tea for sampling, they have a little bit of everything and most of their samples are only a dollar or two, but do beware, they aren't the greatest quality out there.

[Anonymous No.9967549]

Tips for brewing puerh? Do you just have a pot of hot water you keep adding to your cup/teapot of puerh? I don't want to keep running my kettle over and over

>>9967220
If you don't want a teapot straight up you could get yourself a mug strainer to start (the open ones that hang along the rim of your mug) to give the leaves enough room to unfurl and you won't have to keep ingesting leaves lmao
Alternatively those tea for one teapots are pretty convenient too, but eventually you'll want a decently sized teapot

[Anonymous No.9967556]

>>9965762
Russian Caravan
Fuck the leaves smell like a freshly doused camp fire, just thinking about the smell makes me want some, my next office stash will be Caravan

[Anonymous No.9967616]

>>9965059
I put a dash in most except for oolong

[Anonymous No.9967640]

>>9966513
pastebin.com/4ZEuMwBJ

[Anonymous No.9967669]

>>9966901
Bai Lin Jinzhen , fucking great black tea.

[Anonymous No.9967927]

>>9967616
There's a difference between you simply preferring sugar and/or milk in your tea and the tea needing it to cover up the base flavor being bad. Most bagged shit is just nasty when drunk black.

[Anonymous No.9968086]

Why is tea so fucking expensive? 5oz of imported black for $20.
I can buy 3lbs of coffee for that price.

[Anonymous No.9968261]

>>9968086
Because you're looking at high-end premium product when you're looking at quality loose leaf tea. Good tea has to be picked and processed by hand by skilled workers and then it's shipped halfway across the world to you.

Also, consider that it doesn't take much tea leaves to make a cup of tea and you can infuse the leaves multiple times, so that 5oz will take you much further than 5oz of coffee would.

[Anonymous No.9968471]

What is this supposed to mean? The last word looks like tea but the first word is unrecognizable.

[Anonymous No.9968493]

>>9967640
Good looking out.

[Anonymous No.9968596]

>>9966901
Irish Breakfast, one of my favorite morning teas.

>>9968086
Coffee beans are heavier than tea leaves so you get more volume if comparing by weight. 5oz of tea is a lot and would last you over a month. It’s about 10-15 cups per ounce, not including multiple steeps. So 5 ounces of tea would mean about 50-75 cups of tea or if you steep your leaves twice like I do, that means 100-150 cups of tea per 5 ounces. You only need a teaspoon or 2 for tea, compared to around 1 tablespoon per cup of coffee. It’s around the same price when comparing good quality tea to good quality coffee.

[Anonymous No.9968715]

>>9967549
Are you using an electric or stovetop kettle?
Electric kettles can have settings where they keep the water at just below boiling. I use an electric kettle (pic related) so I am always adding nearly boiling water when I want to and I can't imagine any tricks to keep the water warmer for longer.

Otherwise if you're gong-fu'ing you might want to try smaller infusions so you can get to later steeps faster before the water cools off. You can also pre-heat your cup or invest in cast iron.

By the way, what type of puerh are you making?

[Anonymous No.9969121]

>>9964960
Picked up some Gyokuro. How do I properly brew this? I don't have a fancy tea set or anything, just one of those gravity steeps and some teaballs.

[Anonymous No.9969202]

>>9966272
>>9967103
>>9967114
I just finished a big mug of pic related. It's probably my favorite cheap tea besides generic CTC black.

[Anonymous No.9969209]

>>9969121
is it premium stuff? for your first steep brew it in room temperature for 12 minutes, then 2-3 minute steeps at 120F

[Anonymous No.9969392]

tea friends i am looking for a rose black tea anyone have any recs?

[Anonymous No.9969520]

patrician tea incoming

[Anonymous No.9969610]

>>9969520
It's historically plebeian because rice is cheaper than tea. Tastes good though.

[Anonymous No.9970268]

>>9969520
>>9969610
premium genmaicha is absolutely amazing, cheap is still a pleasant economy tea

[Anonymous No.9970315]

>>9966214
>When I'm out and about I use a normal insulated thermos, which keeps my tea hot for hours. It also holds 32oz which is nice considering it stays warm all day.
Ditto, so much better off dosing myself with tea throughout the day than when I used to slam coffees a few times per day

[Anonymous No.9970321]

>>9967103
Idk if it's the same everywhere but 7-11 has the best jasmine tea I've ever tried. All of their tea is surprisingly good whole leaf stuff.

[Anonymous No.9970388]

>>9968471

[Anonymous No.9970598]

>>9970321
That's just Two Leaves and a Bud. They're pretty damn good, you can get em at Walmart, 30-50 cents a bag I think

[Anonymous No.9970921]

>>9969209
1-2 minutes is what anon means. Please do not brew your tea for twelve minutes, way too long for anything.

[Anonymous No.9970939]

Has anyone had tea from a samovar before? Is it good/worth it?

[Anonymous No.9971092]

>>9970939
i would honestly love the chance to try out some czar nicholas in a samovar. they dont look super expensive but i dont know if the links online are real or not

[Anonymous No.9971198]

Thinking of getting some more tea, but not sure what to get. Kind of want to get a green, a darker oolong, and maybe black or perhaps even pu'er, but I have zero experience with pu'er. Ordering online looking at sites like teavivre, ynnan sourcing, and verdant tea. Kinda wanna try a dragonwell for green, maybe get a cheap gunpowder for the early mornings coming up.

[Anonymous No.9971207]

>>9970268
Genmaicha smells and tastes like a mix of fish and poop. Maybe it’s the brand I had? It turned me away from that kind of tea but I’m open to trying it again if someone can recommend a good place to buy it.

[Anonymous No.9971298]

>>9971198

Looking at pu'er, should I go for loose or one of the cake type ones. How about ripe or raw?

[Anonymous No.9971619]

I'm trying Yunnan Pu'erh for the first time; the flavour is lovely. However, the odour is strange. I don't understand the disconnect. Otherwise, I drank numerous cups of Ceylon as it's been frighteningly cold here.

Any suggestions for something I can blend with peppermint?

[Anonymous No.9971650]

>>9971207
Yeah, something was wrong with the tea you ordered. It's literally just roasted brown rice mixed with bancha, I don't know where the fish and poop thing would come in. Even middling quality sources like Harney and Sons has decent genmaicha.

[Anonymous No.9971683]

>Korean coworker brings this into work one day and shares with our team
>it smelled like popcorn

Anybody else here ever try roasted corn tea?

[tsuki No.9971855]

>>9970921
I know what I'm saying, lol

if you want a really rich first infusion then i recommend what is essentially a cold brew. 12 minutes at room temperature.

[Anonymous No.9971857]

>>9971207
>>9971650
brown rice can go rancid due to the oil in it, perhaps that's what happened?

[Anonymous No.9972027]

>>9971298
Start with a ripe puerh. If you get raw puerh you're more likely to get something dry and astringent. But a ripe puerh will be almost guaranteed to be richer and with more body. Look for something labeled a daily drinker. And if you get it as a cake it will probably be cheaper per gram. Also do yourself a favor and drop an extra $5-10 on a sample or two.

>>9971619
Blend that shit with the nastiest green tea you got and plenty of sugar for that dank marrakech life. Be sure to boil it for at least 10 minutes.

[Anonymous No.9972254]

>>9969209
Believe it's premium or superior grade I don't remember.

How many tsp per cup of water? Also that seems pretty cold

[tsuki No.9972272]

>>9972254
It is cold, which is why you brew for a long time. It's just something I like to do on the first steep, it makes for a very rich and umami-filled cup. Of course if you don't want to try that then you can just do the traditional method, 120F with 2 minute steeps (adding 30 seconds each steep)

[Anonymous No.9972274]

>>9972272
Hm well I believe you, but 120? Still pretty cold, don't even think my water boiler goes down that low

[tsuki No.9972282]

>>9972274
Yeah 120 is standard for gyokuro, you can go up to 140 though

If you need to cool it manually, then know that pouring the water into a cool vessel lowers it by around 10 degrees

[Anonymous No.9973095]

About to buy this. Talk me out of it.

A pound of tea for $9.99. Cmon

[Anonymous No.9973150]

>>9965762
Certain green tea I bought in boxes of 250g at a local oriental shop are very smokey. They are very very smokey and I heard from a housemate that her heavy-smoking friend loves the tea.

Don't know what it's called tho. Thr package is black with an illustration of an Arabic man on the front serving the tea.
One of the variants I have is called gunpowder, but I think that refers to the texture.

[Anonymous No.9973166]

>>9966333
I've been looking for good jasmine tea after having a cup at some cafe. Most of the teas I find are green tea with jasmine flavor. The fact that it said flavor made me think it was somewhat synthetic or at least less tasty and/or natural.

I know my local oriental shops sell jasmine tea but there's now way to tell if it's any good as they sell in bags of a kilo and lack lists of ingrediënts.

[Anonymous No.9974285]

>>9971650
>>9971857
Rancid oil could have been the cause. I’ll try another brand.

[Anonymous No.9974310]

>>9973166
Harney’s Dragon Pearl Jasmine

[Anonymous No.9974622]

Is green tea supposed to not really have any taste? I got some gunpowder tea from Adagio and I've made it with the instructed "2 minutes with 180f water", but I'm really not getting the "Full-bodied with a hint of smokiness" they advertise.

[Anonymous No.9975080]

>>9965007
>>>>r/reddit

[tsuki No.9975257]

>>9973095
Tell us if it's good

[Anonymous No.9975358]

>>9974622
no clue man. green tea literally never tasted like anything for me

[Anonymous No.9975459]

>>9974622
I don't know about that brand but it could just be shitty tea or old. Try using more tea or steeping for longer. I ignore instructions and just let my tea steep and then I pour a small amount into my cup and taste it to determine if it needs more time or not.

[Anonymous No.9976281]

Any tips for making iced tea? Got a peach tisane and the instructions I have are literally infuse tea then keep adding ice cubes

[Anonymous No.9976299]

>>9974622
Have you tried opening the leaves by very briefly rinsing with boiling water before steeping?

Not only will this help unfold the leaves to extract more flavor, it will also help clear more dust and debris. Theoretically.

Unfortunately tea is a lot like spices, they can age but eventually they lose potency. Some teas can be aged for over a decade quite intentionally, but not all.

[Anonymous No.9976559]

>>9974622
Gunpowder is one of the stronger green teas in flavor, so either they sent you shitty tea, old tea or both. They do need room to unfurl though because they're rolled tight, so are you confining them in a small infuser? Also, are you measuring the water and tea you use?

[Anonymous No.9976714]

>>9976299
just tried this made my tea a little bit better. not green so idk if i imagined it

[Anonymous No.9976729]

>>9976299
Going to try this now. I still have my genmaicha sample.

[Anonymous No.9976785]

>>9976559
how do you suggest i measure both of these things?

[Anonymous No.9976860]

Anon here with the fish poop genmaicha. It doesn’t smell bad anymore for some reason. I bought it 4-6 months ago and when I opened the new pouch, the smell was overwhelmingly gross. I had 2 other people that also said the same thing but we tried it anyways. The taste wasn’t as strong as the smell, but still wasn’t pleasant. I resealed it and stored it away in case someone else who liked that tea wanted it.

I tried it just now, after it’s been sitting there for several months and the smell and taste are completely different. Toasted puffed rice and a light green tea flavor. Made a cup using anons suggestion >>9976299 and it turned out fine. It’s actually good now and I’m going to finish the sample over the next week. Not sure why it was so gross or what changed it from when I initially opened the bag, but I’ll assume that wasn’t normal and try a different brand next time.

[Anonymous No.9977100]

>>9976785
Well, there's your problem. You should be using 1 teaspoon for 8 ounces of water, roughly. Adjust to taste. Or if you want to be absolutely autistic about it, get a scale and start measuring by weight, half a gram to 100 ml of tea.